Inside the Star

Rangers' Jagr weaves some magic

It won't rank in the Gotham City sports pantheon with Mark Messier's legendary guaranteed victory in the 1994 playoffs but, after Game 3 of this series, Rangers winger Jaromir Jagr made his own declarative statement.

Rangers' Brandon Dubinsky, right, begins celebration after scoring on Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury, left, in third period of their win in New York on May 1, 2008.

By:Paul HunterSports Reporter, Published on Fri May 02 2008

NEW YORK–It won't rank in the Gotham City sports pantheon with Mark Messier's legendary guaranteed victory in the 1994 playoffs but, after Game 3 of this series, Rangers winger Jaromir Jagr made his own declarative statement.

"It is over? I don't think it's over," he said, terminating his post-game scrum that night.

Now, thanks to Jagr, the Rangers series with the Penguins is definitely back on. The situation is still desperate for the Blueshirts but their traditional raised-sticks salute to the fans at the end of last night's game may not have been a farewell.

Facing a sweep and a potential career finale for himself and teammate Brendan Shanahan, Jagr scored twice, added an assist and continued his dominant play as the Rangers won a tight-checking contest, 3-0. The Penguins still lead the series 3-1 with a chance to close it out on home ice Sunday afternoon.

The 36-year-old Jagr has lifted his game to heights that appeared to be beyond his reach after he mostly meandered through an ordinary season. His three points last night gave him 15 in nine playoff games this spring, moving him to a once-familiar lofty perch ahead of all NHL scorers.

Jagr has spoken honestly of how, for him at his age, it would be impossible to play with full intensity every night.

But he added: "When everything is on the line, I love to be on the ice."

The Rangers' season was on the line last night and Jagr was all over the ice, literally and figuratively.

After he scored what proved to be the winner midway through the second period, he got hammered by a shoulder to the head from Pens defenceman Brooks Orpik.

A woozy Jagr lay on the ice, face down for a time – "I couldn't celebrate it," he joked later. " When I got hit, I was thinking about Jerry Maguire, you guys remember the movie? And I wanted to start dancing" – before pulling himself together to set up a goal by Brandon Dubinsky and then scoring the empty-net clincher.

Afterwards, he picked up on his own familiar theme.

"The scoring, that's great. I like to score goals. I like to help the team," he said. "But what I really enjoy is the hockey games in the playoffs, when every play means everything. I always enjoy it, all my life. Every little mistake, every little play means a lot and can change everything. You kind of play on the edge all the time. That's what I like."

One of those game-changing moments occurred in the second period when the game was still a taut 1-0. Evgeni Malkin, on a breakaway, was pushed from behind by New York defenceman Dan Girardi. Malkin went ploughing into New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and the two landed in the net, as did the puck.

It looked like a goal but Sidney Crosby said the officials told him that it didn't count since Lundqvist "wasn't allowed to make the save because Malkin slid into him."

Malkin still could have tied the contest but he morphed into Jason Allison on the penalty shot, coming in so slow there was a chance the Leafs would hire a general manager before he decided what to do. Finally he took a lame shot that Lundqvist easily stopped.

"The turning point," said Jagr. He later noted that it is these kind of emotional spikes that make the chase for the Stanley Cup special.

"The moments in the games, the ups and downs. That's what you remember. You don't remember raising the Cup. You remember the moments. That's what you play for."

And Jagr provided what was perhaps one last night of moments at Madison Square Garden.

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